History

Canon

Little is known about Nero's life prior to the events of DMC4. He was an orphan, raised in the city of Fortuna after being accepted into Kyrie and Credo's family. Fortuna itself is an isolated island occupied by a religious group called the Order of the Sword, which worships the demon Sparda. Nero became a member of the Knights of the Order, a group charged with exterminating demon-kind. He was often given the Order's dirty work, and, despite his notoriously bad attitude and his preference for working alone, his abilities earned him the respect of his fellow members.

Prior to the game, a number of demons attacked the city. Nero and Kyrie both happened to be traveling in the area at the time. Although Nero was able to exterminate all the demons, Kyrie was injured, and Nero "received a minor injury to his right shoulder." On that day, however, something happened that caused Nero's right arm to change. In addition, Nero says that from that day forth, a voice echoed that said, "Power… Give me more power!" And that's … all the information we get on that. :|

GAME START! Nero arrives (late) to one of Kyrie's performances (she sings), then decides to leave when the preaching that follows starts to put him to sleep. That's when a man in red (later revealed to be Dante) drops in. He shoots the leader of the Order, Sanctus, and is immediately set upon by Credo and a bunch of other knights. They all get their asses handed to them, and Dante moves in to take out Credo. Kyrie runs over to intervene and … gets knocked down before she can. Nero gets worried about his ambiguous-relationship-girl her and rushes in to give Dante a two-legged kick to the face. Credo takes Kyrie and leaves, Dante and Nero fight, and it's all very over-the-top and full of impossible gravity. And guns. And swords. Speaking of swords, Nero uses Dante's own sword to stab him through the chest (AND ISN'T THIS FAMILIAR), which appears to win the fight. However, this is Dante. He made it through DMC2; he can make it through this. He's a half-demon. So he just yanks that sword right out of him and starts talking to Nero, saying that they're the same, then pointing to the knights of the Order that he'd slain before. Said knights are all very obviously demons. Nero's understandably confused by this TWEEST, and Dante takes his leave.

Now that the action's done, Credo and company come back. Nero gets his sword (which was in for repairs), and Credo orders him to pursue the man in red. BUT SUDDENLY, the city's attacked by demons. Credo and Kyrie lead survivors off to headquarters, and Nero fights his way through the demons, which have totally overrun the city. The reason for this becomes clear once he makes it outside the city: there's a Hell Gate out there. And that's never a good thing. So Nero fights its guardian, Berial, then makes his way to Fortuna Castle. There, he meets a new member of the Order named Gloria, encounters some demons inhabiting armor that looks like the Order's, and fights off the guardian of the second Hell Gate (Bael). Then he gets to solve a bunch of puzzles and such before finally stumbling across a secret underground laboratory operated by the Order. There, his arm begins to glow as he catches sight of a strange, broken sword….

But before he can inspect it any further (and before Agnus can come stuttering through), Nero finds himself abruptly Waking in Nautilus.

Nautilus

Since Nero trains his abilities every single day, I'm obviously not going to mention it every time he does. So just imagine 'TRAINS A LOT' in between each one of these.

Woke up in the Western District. Thought it was some demon's fault. Was mistaken for Lelouch, up until he was an asshole to almost everyone. Refused help and went about his business.

Started working on Bending. Bended up lots and lots of bullets. Repaired his sword. Rev rev rev.

Trolled the high people with sparklers.

A month after arriving, his Devil Bringer returned. Moved into the Roivas mansion and began wearing his right arm in a sling.

Thanks in part to being rather reclusive, was accused of being a vampire by Tony Stark. Promptly announced he wasn't, and told people to shove that idea up their ass.

The city turned his face into this. There was uncontrollable shouting, and people were amused.

Personality

Foulmouthed, arrogant, and always ready for a fight, Nero is hardly an easy person to get along with. He mocks and belittles both enemies and allies, and deliberately avoids working with others in favor of going solo. His confidence in his abilities — while not misplaced — often manifests in completely over-the-top displays of power right in the middle of a fight. He's not a patient individual, and he has quite the short temper. For example, when a machine doesn't work right, he just hits it, walks a few feet away, then turns around and shoots it. (Somehow, this solves the problem. Don't ask me how.)

When he's not fighting or showing off, however, Nero is shown to be both incredibly loyal and protective. He fights with everything he has to keep Kyrie safe. At one point, he states that he would become a demon if that's what it took to protect her. This obvious devotion winds up getting her used against him more than once, and … well, any trap with her as bait works pretty much perfectly. However, his desire to protect her also allows him to rise to new levels of power.

In spite of all his pride and confidence in his abilities, Nero nevertheless takes steps to hide his demonic arm from view. Any time someone spots it, he twists or covers it up so it's as out of sight as possible. Up until late in the game, it's a source of shame for him, despite the power that he derives from it. Also in contrast to his brash attitude is his obvious embarrassment around the hyper-sexualized Gloria. More than likely, this can be attributed to his feelings for Kyrie. (Or he just thought it impolite to stare at the thighs of a woman he just met. Let's go with "feelings for Kyrie" on this one.)

It's also important to note that, while he was raised in what essentially amounts to a cult, it's doubtful Nero actually believes in any of their ideals. He wears headphones throughout most of the sermon he's shown attending, and leaves when the actual praying starts. He also mentions not being able to 'take those legends too literally'. At another point, he all but sneers at the mention of the "Savior", just before going off and fighting some more demons. It's likely that he continues to work for the Order simply because that's all there is. That, and he does appear to enjoy the actual combat.

Abilities

Canon

As a half-devil, Nero possesses inhuman speed, strength, and agility. Though just saying "inhuman" is putting it a little lightly. At one point, he grabs hold of an enormous toad-like demon, swings it around and around, and hurls it with enough force to break off parts of a stone castle. He also runs up surfaces as they're falling down, stops spear-thrusts by shutting a book on them, and does the whole 'spin around and reload gun while the new bullets are in the air' thing. And those are just examples. It's really absolutely ridiculous. In a more everyday setting, he's seen to pick up and flip over a large case with one hand, when Kyrie was having difficulty even dragging it. So yeah, it's not something he just turns on and off.

(It's also important to note that Nero's heritage allows him to survive the kinds of falls and wounds that would kill any human, though "survive" doesn't always mean "escape completely unharmed".)

Aside from that, Nero's right arm allows him to use an ability called Devil Bringer. This allows him to grab enemies (and other things) from far away, as well as perform EVEN GREATER feats of strength. It's very obvious when he uses it: a disembodied version of his arm appears and imitates Nero's action. When he puts more energy and focus into it, this disembodied version gets bigger. AWESOME.

(Though it's unlikely to come into play in Nautilus, the Devil Bringer can also absorb objects and weapons of demonic origin (or even parts of a demon, as in Bael's case), then use the abilities they possess.)

In addition to all this, Nero uses a gun called Blue Rose and a sword called Red Queen. Blue Rose is basically just a six-shooter, except that it fires two bullets at once and Nero can "charge" these shots with demonic energy. It's strong enough to take down "multiple foes or enemies encased in armor". Red Queen is a mechanical sword that makes even less sense than a gunblade. It's got a motorcycle-like gear shift thing called an Exceed propellant system that you rev to spray flammable propellant across the blade. I DON'T KNOW. IT MAKES IT HIT HARDER AND FASTER.

The final thing to note as far as powers go is an ability that Nero won't have when he arrives in Nautilus, but will gain as soon as he goes back for a canon update. This is his Devil Trigger. (Think of it as the DMC version of one of Final Fantasy's limit breaks.) In this state, Vergil a blue, spectral figure manifests behind Nero wielding a katana called Yamato. Like the disembodied version of the Devil Bringer, the blue specter mimics Nero's movements. Aside from increasing his overall strength and allowing him a few special movements, this form is insanely useful in regaining health. The most obvious instance of this is when Nero is impaled by a giant spear, then a massive sword. He's SOMEHOW able to stand up after what should have instantly killed him, and by the time his Devil Trigger deactivates, he's completely healed.

Physically, using his Devil Trigger causes a blue aura to appear around Nero, as well as causing his eyes to glow red and his voice to become deeper and echo. It's actually pretty sweet.

Relationships

Canon (not in Nautilus)

Kyrie: The younger sister of Credo. Nero was accepted into their family as a child, and they grew into young adulthood together. As stated in the manual: "their ambiguous relationship contains aspects of family, friend and lover." Soooo. There you go.

Credo: As Kyrie's older brother, he too has accepted Nero into their family. As the Supreme General of the Holy Knights, however, Nero is under his command, and he's forced to put up with Nero's constant insubordination.

Dante: The man who Nero was ordered to track down for killing His Holiness. At the point in canon that Nero's pulled from, he doesn't even know Dante's name.

Nautilus

Alexandra Roivas: One of Nero's housemates. Much of the time, she seems to have more sense than Edward. He hasn't really spoken to her much, but she thought his face being transformed was hilarious.

America: What is this guy even. Why does he enjoy shouting so much.

Damon Salvatore: A guy who was also accused of being a vampire. Nero thinks he's alright.

Edward Roivas: A rarely sober man who's consistently unfazed by Nero's attitude. Due in large part to his calm demeanor, Nero's come to like him a good deal. He's the only one of Nero's housemates who's seen his demonic arm.

Lelouch: WHY DOES THIS GUY SOUND LIKE HIM!? He's rather weirded out by the bizarre similarity, but has quickly grown irritated with being mistaken for the other man.

Pepper Potts: Nero turned her down when she offered to help him, after he arrived. She seems to know Tony Stark.

Peter Jacob: One of Nero's housemates. He makes an excellent breakfast. He also appears very unstable. Nero has kept his arm hidden from the man; he doesn't want to risk freaking him out.

Ratchet: The Autobot initially mistook Nero for a deranged Lelouch. In turn, Nero thought that Ratchet was responsible for him showing up in Nautilus. There was much confusion. Although Nero has since realized that Ratchet isn't a demon, he still doesn't trust the Cybertronian. That doesn't keep him from bothering the old bot from time to time.

Roxas: Some kid who tried to help him when he showed up. As he was a kid, Nero wasn't quite as rude to him as he was to everyone else.

Sideswipe: Useless robot with useless suggestions. They shouted at each other quite a bit.

Tony Stark: This guy accused Nero of being a vampire. Nero thinks he's an idiot with too much time on his hands.